Ino dances alone
by watervampire
Summary: Ino and Shikamaru broke up because of a misunderstanding. Ino finds that she cannot get Shikamaru out of her heart though, especially not when listening to their favourite song. It seems harder than she would have thought to dance to it alone.


Elle danse seule:

_(She dances alone:)_

Ino sits on a chair in her parents' flower shop. She's supposed to just watch the shop, sell flowers, like she normally does. Like she normally did.

She knows her parents are worried about her. How could they not be? She'd locked herself in her room for days, not eating anything, crying all day long and sometimes falling asleep because she couldn't take it anymore to be awake.

And all that time, she'd be listening to the same song. She'd put it on so softly her parents could barely hear it, but she did. She knew the song by heart, every line being sung, every piano key being struck. It was beautiful, yet it made her heart break once more every time she heard it. If her parents would've known, she was sure they would've been even more worried.

She opens her eyes, and sees the shop is still empty. She looks at the clock, but doesn't have the idea even a minute has passed since the last time she looked at it. The minutes go by slowly, more slowly than she could've ever imagined. A second seems to last an eternity.

**Ici rien ne se passe, (Nothing changes here,)  
Pas même le temps.**** (Not even the time.)**

She closes her eyes again. Every memory seems to hurt, but they're always better than that clock that just won't move. _She sees a tree, and when she looks up she notices Shikamaru sitting on the second branch. Lazily he opens his eyes, and smiles._

"_Come up here." He says. She almost cries __when she hears his voice._

_Step by step she walks__ to the tree, and tries to grabthe first branch. Swiftly she gets on it and moves on to the second. It's higher than the first one, but she'll do whatever she can to get there. She's just pulling up to it when Shikamaru softly kisses her nose. Startled she lets go of the branch, but his arms already have a hold of her waist, and he pulls her back on the branch, next to him. Annoyed she looks at her leg._

"_Hey, you hurt me." She said, motioning to the scratch on her leg._

"_I'm sorry." He says, and presses soft kisses on it. She'd already forgiven him before he said that. There was no other way._

She opens her eyes again, immediately looking at her leg. There's nothing there, the scratch from back then has already healed. 'It's always like that.' She thinks sadly.

**Les blessures s'effacent (The ****wounds are erased,)  
Lentement. (Slowly)**

_She had dreamed of him again last night. By now she was already trying to pick up her life again, but she couldn't stop thinking of him. It wouldn't surprise if __her if she never would. Every night she'd relive the time they were still together. Every morning it would hurt again to face the hard, cold and lonely reality._

"_Ino, pay attention!" Chouji shouted, while throwing a few kunai towards her. She dodged them, and aimed some shuriken at him. She shouldn't have gone to train already.__ People thought it would get her mind from him though. She runs forwards and aims a kick at Chouji's legs. He jumps though, dodging her smartly. He's gotten better._

"_Where's Shikamaru?" She shouted back, while dodging his punch. He was panting lightly as he jumped away from her again._

"_I don't know. Maybe he's still tired from his last mission?" He asked. Ino lets her h__ead hang low. That's not something Shikamaru would do. She knows it, and she's absolutely sure Chouji knows it too._

**Elle attend le jour (She waits during the day)  
Elle en rêve la nuit**** (And dreams during the night)  
Elle revit son amour (She relives her love)  
Avec lui (With him)**

_His eyes are teary, but show both hate and disappointment. Ino knows she must look terrible as well, but she doesn't care at th__is moment. There's something she must take care of first._

"_How could you!?" He shouted. "I thought you loved me. You told me you loved me!" He almost sounded desperate._

"_I love you! Really, I do." She almost started crying now. "I was only helping Sasuke out, it meant nothing__, okay? Nothing!"_

"_How do you expect me to believe you, Ino, how do you? Can you prove anything?" He asked her, his voice calm and cold now. She sobbed._

"_Please, Shikamaru. I love you; you're the only one I could ever love." She sobbed. She could see in his eyes that he didn't believe her. She could see in his eyes it was over._

**Il n'aurait jamais pu croire**** (He could have never believed)  
Qu'il était son dernier espoir (That he was her last hope)**

She was listening to his CD again. The one he gave her. The CD with their song. Though, while she only listened to that one song before, she was listening to the whole CD now. She lifted her head as a familiar song started. It was '_Elle danse seule'_ by Axelle Red. However, to her it was just their song. The song that would always wake him up when he was laying on the couch, sleeping, and that she would always start dancing to.

He told her how he couldn't stand seeing her dance to it alone, like the girl in the song, so he would always join her. And like that she'd burry her head in his shoulder and inhale his scent, being happy as she could be.

Almost unconsciously she notices she's stood up from her chair and started dancing to the song, just like she always did. But this time, there are no strong arms being wrapped around her, this time Shikamaru isn't here.

She looks at her shadow, and sighs. "We're both together, right?" She asks it. Shikamaru's techniques are all based on his or other's shadows. Would he ever talk to them?

"We're both together, but we're also alone." She can almost hear his answer; Shikamaru's voice: "You can't be together alone, smarty. I'll always be there for you." Tears slide down her cheeks, and fall to the floor.**  
**

**Elle danse seule (She dances alone)  
Elle parle avec son ombre (She talks with her shadow)  
Elle danse seule (She dances alone)  
Elle entend sa voix répondre (She hears his voice answering)**

She drops to the floor, letting her tears run freely now. The floor is cold, to make sure the flowers won't welt to soon, it can't be too hot inside. She knows she'll get goose bumps if she stays on the floor like this. She knows she might even catch a cold.

The thing is just; she doesn't care anymore. She could fall asleep on the floor right now, even though it's too cold, and very uncomfortable. She doesn't, though. She stands up again, using all strength she can bring up in that very fragile moment.

She keeps dancing, until the song ends. Somehow she can't stop it, she feels she's relating to the girl in the song. And that girl could dance alone too.

**Et elle s'endort comme ça (And like that she falls asleep)  
Contre le sol trop froid (On the floor that's too cold.)  
****Elle danse seule (She dances alone)  
**

Ino knows all the other girls think she's crazy, letting Shikamaru ruin her life like that. Some of them have tried to cheer her up, Sakura tried to take her out shopping, but she wasn't in the mood. TenTen and Ino trained together, but that was all TenTen could do for her. She didn't know another cure than training.

Somehow she felt best after Hinata had come to her, a bit shy, telling her exactly what she hadn't expected. She'd heard from people that they understood before, but from Hinata's mouth it just sounded so terribly real. She knew the girl had waited for Naruto's love for ages, but in the end she'd gotten it.

It had given her courage. She'd wait for Shikamaru, and if he were to give her a chance again, she wouldn't hesitate one second. He'll come back, and they'll be together again. She's absolutely sure.

**Elle dit qu'il reviendra (She says he'll return)  
Qu'il la fera reviver (That he will make her relive)  
Qu'elle est prête déjà (That she is already ready)  
Pour le suivre**** (To follow him)  
**

Well, she was absolutely sure. Right now it's already been more than a week, and Shikamaru hasn't come back. It even seems he's getting on with his life better than she does, though he keeps avoiding her.

While she is ready to talk to him again, he isn't. While he is ready to do the things he always does again, she isn't. She misses him, and everything about him. She still loves every single part of him she used to love, but it won't help her.

And now she's sitting here alone, she's starting to get doubts. What if Shikamaru doesn't come back? What if he doesn't love her anymore? Why did she actually think he did? Her eyes have been red from tears, for more than a week already. What is the use to keep crying about him?

She washes her face in the bathroom, and stares into her own sad, lifeless eyes. It's like she's finally become tired of crying, tired of trying. The doubts have finally taken over; maybe they were just reality.

**Mais à trop regarder (But after staring too long)  
Le bout de cette route (To the end of this road)  
Ses yeux sont fatigués (Her eyes are tired)  
Par le doute (From doubt)**

Shikamaru sighed. The last week he'd been following his father's how-to-get-over-the-chick-you-loved step by step plan, and he couldn't say it was working all too well. The shock when he saw her kissing that Uchiha guy had just been too much, he couldn't handle it.

It's not that he didn't know that Ino had fancied Sasuke a long time, probably longer than she had loved him, but she had told him that was over. Apparently it wasn't.

They'd gotten in a pretty shitty fight back then, with her screaming that it was nothing and that she loved him, and with him telling her he didn't believe it. It shouldn't have ended that chaotic, maybe that would've helped. He couldn't tell; he didn't know.

The only thing he knew was that the ideas of his father – getting away from her for awhile, making fun, flirting with other girls, telling people the story, etc, etc – weren't really helping. That's also why, when his father came with this plan, he wasn't really enthusiastic. Why would it work any better than all the other failed plans? Anyway, his father had kept on bothering him, so in the end he'd decided that this was troublesome enough as it was.

So now here he was, in front of the Yamanaka flower store, to buy some kind of bouquet for his mother's birthday. The official step was simply 'facing her again in a casual way' but he thought his father was simply too lazy to get up and buy his wife some flowers himself.

In there probably was the girl he had spent such beautiful moments with, the girl who'd shouted that she loved him, only one week ago.

**Comment aurait-il pu croire (How could he have believed)  
Qu'il était son dernier espoir? **** (That he was her last hope?)**

Ino had put on the song again, and was dancing to the soft music. She felt alone on one side, but on the other side it felt like there was nobody. She'd seen her own face in the mirror, and it had looked as if no one was living there.

If this were to be true, she wouldn't be alone, but what would she be then? She sighed. She was sure Shikamaru would've known the answer to that question, but he wasn't here right now. He couldn't help her.

She walked back to the bathroom, and looked in the mirror. She tried to smile, but found out it didn't make her look happier. This smile was different from the ones she saw everywhere around in the village. It wasn't genuine.

**Elle danse seule (She dances alone)  
Elle se sourit dans la glace (****She smiles at herself in the mirror)  
**

Shikamaru saw that Ino had come back. She immediately walked to the CD player – he knew where it was, how often they had watched the shop together, listening to music and dancing to it – and then walked back again. He couldn't hear the music, but when he saw her dancing to it he immediately knew which song it was.

There was no doubt, the way she was embracing herself with her arms. She'd always do that when they were still together, and he'd lay his arms over them, take her away from her own lonely world. He could still remember how her eyes would light up the moment she turned around and saw him there, how he would smile at her, and they would dance once again, to the song they had claimed to be theirs.

Well, Ino had, but it was because it was the only song that could wake him up if he was sleeping lightly for a bit.

**Elle danse seule (She dances alone)  
Avec ses bras qui l'enlacent (With her arms that embrace herself)**

He made his decision, and walked into the shop. He immediately noticed how cold it was inside, but paid no attention. He picked out a pre-made bouquet of flowers for his mother – there was no way she'd find out, or care, every Yamanaka bouquet was unique – hoping Ino would've noticed he was there so he wouldn't have to take her out of her trance.

When he walked towards her, he coughed, and she turned around shocked. The look in her eyes was different from before, but that he had expected. He just hadn't expected it to be like this, he hadn't expected her to look this bad.

Without saying a word she put a paper around the bouquet, then she opened her mouth to tell him the price, but she didn't look in his eyes. His breathing was sharp as he left the shop. Would she think he had another girlfriend? No matter how she'd hurt him before, he didn't want to do that to her. He hadn't expected her to be this broken, and now he knew she was, it made him feel bad.

He looked back again, and saw Ino had sunk to the floor in that cold and lonely shop, her arms around her and her eyes facing the ground. He couldn't help it.

He felt sorry for her.

**Et elle s'endort comme ça (And like that she falls asleep)  
Contre le sol trop froid (On the floor ****that's too cold)  
Elle danse seule (She dances alone)**

Shikamaru still doesn't know if he should believe her when she said she loved him, but one thing shocked him when he saw Ino, almost as much as the look in her eyes. He closed his eyes in an attempt to get the memory away, but it only became clearer.

"_What is that ring you're wearing?" Shikamaru asked Ino. She smiled happily, love shining clearly from her eyes._

"_It's something my father gave me once. Because we're not really good at communicating, he told me to wear it as soon as I've fallen in love. That'd save both of us some awkward moments." She said, twisting it around her finger._

_He smiled happily. She loved him. He'd never seen that ring before, meaning she hadn't loved anyone yet the way she loved him. It made him feel so special._

Ino had still been wearing that ring, but not on her finger but on a chain around her neck. He wondered what it meant, but couldn't understand it. He just kept staring at her, and saw she was dancing on her own again.

**Si seule. ****(So (terribly) alone.)**

He'd made his decision. There was no going back now, it might've been not in the plan to stop loving her, but he couldn't do this. He had known it from the moment he'd seen her in that shop, all alone, dancing to the song that used to be only from the two of them.

There wasn't another guy in Ino's life. There couldn't be, it was impossible. No guy would let his girlfriend dance all alone like that, he was sure of it. No guy, but him.

It struck him painfully. His mouth twisted, maybe in annoyance, maybe just because he finally realized how stupid he had been. Then he turned away from her again, the only girl he had ever loved. The image of Ino in the shop kept haunting him the whole way back, dancing there in her parents´ shop on her own.

So terribly alone…


End file.
